Random reports, interesting insights, and web weirdness

Now that the 2006/2007 fall TV schedule is over, it's time to ponder what it is about television that we like so much. Is it watching people do stupid things on reality shows? How about steamy hospital dramas that have more sex than medicine? Is it comedies about fat, dumb husbands with hot wives that hate them? All of these things are well and good, but they don't really give me what I'm looking for.
I like all types of comedy, but oddly enough, my favorite is physical comedy (oddly enough, I say, because it's a well-known fact that women don't "get" The Three Stooges). Perhaps I DON'T like The Three Stooges - but I do enjoy me some fallin' down. I like people smacking themselves in the face with doors and I like people throwing themselves around the room. What makes it funnier is to see it in the middle of a sitcom where everything else is "normal" and actors get by on witty lines. It's the physical comedians within these groups that make certain shows stand out. And, of course, there's the stand-outs on Saturday Night Live. While I tend to consider it a bit easier to do physical comedy on a sketch show, I've included the standouts from that show as well.
The following is an in-depth look at physical comedy throughout the past 40 years. You will note that Dick Van Dyke and Lucille Ball, while mentioned, are not on the list. We'll call them the far end of the "modern" scale and look past them to those they inspired.
You'll also notice that to keep your attention, I have sprinkled a bit of nudity throughout the article. Enjoy!

20./19. (tie) Chris Farley/Will Farrel & John Belushi/Dan Akroyd - For many folks in their 20's and 30's, Farley and Farrel epitomize physical comedy. For the preceding generation, it's Belushi and Akroyd. The main draw for all four of these guys is their size - seeing them take their large frames and hurl themselves through dance routines (Farley's Chippendale, Belushi and Akroyd's Blues Brothers, Farrel's cheerleader) or bandy about the set in a "large" fashion (Farley's Matt Foley, Belushi's samurai, Farrel's hot tub lifeguard) cemented them in our minds as guys who based their comedy on the idea that big guys doing most anything is hilarious. While they could possibly be near the top of just any "physical comedy" list, for the purposes of this list (which focuses on television), we'll give them their rightful place near the bottom for using the unbridled comedy venue of late night, weekend, sketch comedy television to hone their skills.
18. Molly Shannon - A former SNL cast member NOT known for her movie career, Shannon makes it in to the top 20 by taking some seriously badass falls. Her work as the character Mary Katherine Gallagher was mindblowingly physical - launching oneself into a pile of boxes or chairs on "live" TV is much more impressive than doing it in a movie or even a taped sitcom. All that, and she's wearing a short skirt! She also added a lot of dancing and gymnastics to her other characters such as Sally O'Mally ("I'm FIFTY years old!"). She probably won't be remembered as one of the best SNL cast members of all time, and her career went pretty dead after she left the show - but she gets an A+ for effort for slinging herself around with the boys of SNL.

17./16. Sarah Chalke/Zach Braff - You don't generally find good physical comedy in today's sitcoms. Heck, with all the reality show buzz, it's hard to find a sitcom at all. But along with being brilliantly written and acted, Scrubs holds up the current television schedule with a little bit of physical comedy thanks to Braff and Chalke. From the beginning, Braff has been taking shots to the head from inanimate objects and riding his scooter through seemingly solid objects. And of course, he's been through the Ritter/Van Dyke school of falling down. Chalke gets her position on the list for being the hottest chick on television (or so I've read) to take the occasional fall or just flail around hopelessly.

2./1. Rick Mayall/Adrian Edmonson - Like Rowan Atkinson, Rick Mayall and Adrian Edmonson got their fame from the BBC and Bel Elton. I often describe this pair to others as a "live action, British Beavis and Butthead." Their physical comedy is indeed extreme and they play off each other brilliantly - with highly-choreographed fight scenes, explosions and a complete love/hate relationship that most likely stems from the fact that no one else can stand their characters so they (the characters) end up together. Unlike other list-ees, these two work best as a duo. They also incorporate more than just prat falls and silly entrances into their performances - they are indeed violent. In fact, such violence has not been seen since The Three Stooges. But in the case of Mayall and Edmonson characters, the violence is usually done out of malice in contrast to the Stooges' brand of "take that, ya numbskull!" joshery. Throughout their careers, Mayall and Edmonson have been smashing up furniture and windows, setting each other on fire (more Edmonson on fire than Mayall), repeatedly knocking each other in the nads, choking each other (a la The Simpsons) and, most often, bashing each other with frying pans and the most useful cricket bat. The characters they play - as The Dangerous Brothers on Saturday Live; Rik and Vyvian on The Young Ones; and Rick and Eddie in both Filthy, Rich and Catflap and Bottom - are lowly, sad, poor, idiots with egos the size of Albert Hall. They are extremely socially and sexually frustrated and are quite possibly a mix between American "white trash" and the British "upper class twit". As with Mr. Bean, Edmonson and Mayall's latest show, Bottom, includes very little interaction with - or at least very little regards to - the outside world. For the most part, the pair just stay home and beat the bejeezus out of each other when not out looking for "birds" to "shag." This format lends itself brilliantly to a stage show version which the two embarked on during the show's run on television and after (there were 5 stage "plays" in all, over 10 years). The stage shows showcase the absolute physicality of their performances, with Edmonson and Mayall sweating, cues going wrong and both forgetting their lines (and ad-libbing beautifully). While seeing the stage shows does add more appreciation of the pair for the casual viewer, any fan of physical comedy must bow down to Rick and Adrian as the ballsiest, craziest, most driven physical comedians to have come on the telly in the past 30 years.
Did I miss anyone? Share your thoughts!